On the night of the 2016 election, writers at the Onion gathered to watch the unexpected results. One had made an ice-cream cake. “Nobody touched it the entire night,” says Mike Gillis, the Onion’s head writer. The melting treat was decorated with a face that gradually became “more distorted and horrific” as the night went on.
“That was a good symbol of everybody’s feelings. And I think that was a moment where we all had to pause and reflect on how we were covering politics.” Coverage became more critical, Gillis says, but finding the jokes could be a challenge.
